The troops were restless. The Mayan war was America's second straight conflict in which the enemy was permitted to negotiate a peace. The people of San Jose and Villahermosa joined those of San Antonio and Mexico City in grumbling about the occupying forces and openly pining for a return of native control. Disciplinary measures were carried out against soldiers who questioned their superior officers, of course, but Lincoln was forced, deep down in his gut, to agree with them. The Mayans should have been eradicated. A grand, symbolic show of strength would be needed. Only through the death of Montezuma would America be truly feared and respected.
But first, as always, administrative tasks would need to be taken care of. If Montezuma were to be engaged in total war, long-term espionage against him would be a silly waste of resources, so our primitive spy network turned its full attention to Sitting Bull. A trade request was sent to Pacal. In it, Lincoln heavily implied that the Mayan should show some gratitude for still being in a position to play in the game of nations at all:
Meditation would allow the starving peoples of San Jose to complete a Buddhist Monastery to help push out their borders, and Monarchy's benefits were obvious (though, interestingly, we still haven't gone through the Anarchy required to change civics).
Meditation was also valuable as a trading chip with the Midwestern Natives:
War against Montezuma means counterattacks, and cheap Archer garrisons are, hammer for hammer, the best way to fend them off.
In 415, we were named among the largest nations of the world:
8 out of 34 (well, minus a few unfortunate eliminations here and there) isn't bad, though it certainly could be better.
30 years later, the execrable Inca flexed their newfound muscle and declared themselves feudal protectors of the Maya. American Axemen stationed in Central America grumbled into their cups as Huayna Capac's ambassadors strutted about the White House, daring Lincoln to act. There was no real option, though. Throwing our boys against Incan Longbows to the south while an angry Montezuma seethed on our border would have been pure folly. But the tiny Incan would get his, sure enough.
By 460, the people of Washington were mollified by Mesoamerican Silver hammered into fine jewelry at the Forges. Courthouses were nearly ready to be built. And the army had recovered from its losses, and stood ready for a new offensive:
Montezuma cast about for war allies, but could find none. Huayna Capac, ruling over all of South America, declared the conflict to be out of his sphere of influence. The Maya, squatting along the southern continent's north coast, deferred to their Inca overlords. And Sitting Bull only gave a predatory smile and sent back the Aztec emissary's scalp. Montezuma was alone.
Tlatelolco, on the Gulf of California, was the first city to suffer Lincoln's wrath:
And, with this conquest, Mexico City was finally able to live up to its full potential as a truly American city. Locals still resisted occupation forces, but these were minor problems, easily kept under control.
Texcoco, a small mining village nestled in the Rockies, was Montezuma's major staging ground. Taking this city would cripple Aztec military might:
The city burned, but Aztec Axemen continued to appear. Montezuma clearly had another source of metals.
Galileo Galilei, a Catapult engineer wounded in the Battle of Texcoco and sent back to Washington to recover, granted us the secrets of Philosophy from his hospital bed in 565, but after Lincoln made a minor trade with Sitting Bull:
The council of nations declared us too advanced and refused any further trades with us. So we have Philosophy as a monopoly tech, which should be nice for the Liberalism race and all, but it's a little useless right now.
Tlacopan, soon to be renamed Havana, was a trivial, minor battle, but nevertheless one we would need to win in order to secure our flank:
The city was ordered to build the Moai Statues and promptly forgotten about.
Tlaxcala was our next target, giving us our first proper Pacific port north of San Jose:
The city was renamed Los Angeles (It's probably closer to San Diego, but I've got enough "San" cities already, and what's a United States without an L.A.?). It was a weak city, starved for food, but Sitting Bull couldn't be allowed to resettle the site and obtain a Pacific presence.
The Americans continued up the coast, suffering losses but taking city after city:
San Francisco would be a more productive city than Los Angeles.
760 A.D. was a bad year:
Sitting Bull squatted on the site of Texcoco, and Montezuma sent a last-ditch raiding party south through the Rockies to retake Los Angeles. Lincoln was forced to sacrifice hundreds of lives to blunt the assault and conquer the city once and for all.
In 820, the final battle was ready to begin:
The ragged remnants of the American victory army wheeled its siege engines up to the gates of Montezuma's last redoubt in the Pacific Northwest and were dismayed to see the parapets manned by Longbows. Montezuma had learned the secrets of Feudalism! He could not be permitted to train more Longbowmen than his initial prototype unit. Casting caution to the wind, Lincoln threw everything he had at the city in a blistering assault.
It all came down to one final roll of the dice:
And with that, Montezuma's lifeless head was paraded through the streets of Mexico City, utterly breaking the back of the resistance.
A new peace fell over the land. A new America was born:
The Natives survive, yes, but they are contained. We stretch from sea to shining sea.
Unfortunately, the Second Aztec War has utterly depleted our military forces:
So, at the very least, a good, long while of rebuilding will be in order. Thanks to our years of fighting, though, and Montezuma's willingness to settle his Great Generals, we should be pumping out two-promotion units in most of our high-production cities.
Techwise, we're losing the race to Optics:
And that's on our continent, so I'd imagine that we can expect a few European Caravels to stop by while we're in the process of rearming.
So, what do you all think? I feel like I'm behind, but that's kind of natural in a New World start. Should our next target be Sitting Bull, or should we strike at the Inca before they run away with the tech lead?
The save is a few posts up.
420
